Reborn NBA's Strongest Talent

Chapter 48 48. The Exposed Short Board

Without stopping, the Thunder continued their journey to Salt Lake City, Utah, home of the Jazz.

Westbrook walked together, wearing a crisp suit.

The league requires that spectators who do not play must wear suits.

Westbrook will not be able to play today.

Although I have been mentally prepared for a long time, it is still not acceptable when it is really put in front of me.

"Everyone play well, and I will cheer for you off the court." Even if Westbrook cheered for the players, it didn't have a very good effect.

On the plane, on the bus from the airport to the arena, everything was quiet.

It was so quiet that everyone was thinking.

After asking the team doctor, Donovan came to the players and shrugged, "Russell will definitely not be able to play today."

Westbrook sighed slightly.

"Russell, we will fight for you." Adams thumped his chest.

"Hahaha..." There was a voice of half-smile, no one had the same confidence as Adams.

"Now lay out the tactics. Anthony, you start at the point guard." Donovan fiddled with the tactical board in his hand.

Morrow starts!
Richard, who has a stronger scoring ability in the near future, was not selected.This surprised many people. They looked at each other, but none of them understood the coach's arrangement.

If Richard starts, Oladipo can only play point guard, Richard still plays shooting guard, and Robertson plays small forward. In this case, the starting offensive power is enough, but there is no one who can organize.

Perhaps the coach is out of this consideration.

Morrow nodded. After all, he has many years of ball experience and has his own understanding of facing any position.

Richard is a little frustrated, no matter how he understands the coach's intentions, he is still a little frustrated. When Westbrook was injured in the last game, he was the first to push up.

At the same time, Richard was a little angry, and he wanted to use his performance to prove that he had the strength to start.

Donovan didn't have time to understand what each player was thinking, and carefully arranged the tactics.

Without Westbrook, the Thunder are just another team.

When there is Westbrook, almost all the possession of the ball is in his hands, and he controls the ball, both at the starting point and the end point; when there is no Westbrook, the possession of the ball is almost evenly distributed, and no one can be regarded as the second head of the team.

Most of the veterans do not have the ability to attack independently, such as Adams and Robertson. It is a waste to give them the ball.

And those who have the ability to attack independently are rookies, either rookies or new transfers, such as Oladipo and Sabonis, who will not convince the crowd when given the ball, and will only disrupt the deployment in the end.

Therefore, Donovan implements the average ball possession, and whoever can grasp it will attack. In the end, the ownership of the ball will definitely not be the same, but there will be no uneven distribution and messy situations. After all, it is because he has no ability to digest the ball.

The pre-war deployment is over like this, and what can be done can only be tested by the game.

At the beginning of the game, the Thunder failed to make several shots in a row, all of which were due to lack of strength and shot at the front of the basket.

The tactics were executed successfully, the players played selflessly with each other and got space, but failed to score.

Morale plummeted.

Feeling cold again?Donovan shook his head. The room leaked and it rained all night, so there was no other way. The team currently had no players who could attack, so they could only swallow the defeat.

Westbrook couldn't sit still on the bench, and kept standing up to cheer for his teammates.

The players failed to make shots in a row, and they also adjusted themselves. The ball hit the inside line, and they relied on their bodies to force the ball into the basket.

The Thunder finally started to score, but the Jazz were already far ahead at this time.

The inside can score goals, but the outside can't open up the situation. The Thunder players began to attack the inside endlessly, but such attacks often lack cooperation.

Without the support of tactics, it is almost impossible to defeat the opponent relying on a large number of singles in the game. The only possibility is to have a superstar and score crazy points.

But today's Thunder does not have this condition. The opponent still has a powerful center Rudy Gobert, all of whom use breakthroughs to deliver food to the opponent.

Although they started to score, the score gap has been widening.

Donovan finally couldn't bear it anymore, Richard replaced Oladipo who made 6 of 8 shots in 2 minutes.

Gearing up, Richard could understand Oladipo's crazy performance, but he failed to perform successfully and lost trust.

When it's your turn, of course you have to cherish the opportunity even more, and you must not make wild shots like Oladipo.

"Dang" missed two shots in a row, and the sound of iron hitting was like the sound of hitting the face, making Richard's face hot.

No, this is definitely not my problem. There is no big difference in the feel of shooting, but it seems that the strength is not used enough, and the basketball always falls in front of the basket.

To say that there is no hand feeling, and the group has no hand feeling. It happens from time to time, but the collective hand feel is weak, which is not right.

While playing, Richard was thinking about this question.

The Jazz have no offensive pressure on the side, and the shooting percentage under the same performance is 20 percentage points higher. This is really a home court advantage.

Home!Richard caught an important point.

Salt Lake City, home of the Jazz, is a plateau!The altitude is about 1300 meters.

It is about 1000 meters above sea level different from other cities, so it is natural to not adapt.

After figuring out this problem, Richard took the initiative to ask for the ball during the offense, took another shot, and made a steady hit after adjustment.

Now that he has found the trick, Richard is like a fish in water, and once again started an efficient offensive mode.

At the end of the first quarter, Richard scored 6 points on 3 of 8 shots and made the team's only two three-pointers.

But the team still fell behind by 21 points at 28:7.

If it weren't for Richard's two three-pointers, he would have fallen even further behind.

"...The tactics are like this, the shooting feels bad, everyone try to hit the inside." Donovan rearranged the tactics during the quarter.

"Coach, can I say a few words?" Richard explained to his teammates the problems he thought of and the direction of adjustment.

But now the game time has come.

Full of doubts, the Thunder players tried to adjust on the court, and the result was surprisingly good, and the outside shot was instantly opened.

The morale of the team is back on track again, and the execution of tactics is gradually becoming stronger. Richard led the second team and played a wave of 10:2 spurts.

Evened the score.

Among them, Richard himself scored 2 goals again.

The Jazz didn't expect the Thunder to be able to shoot outside, so they were forced to adjust their tactics in a targeted manner, gradually letting go of the shrinking defense and turning it into an ordinary man-to-man tactic.

Especially for Richard.

The guy who brought disgrace to his team in the preseason.

In the first quarter, he was already inaccurate in shooting, but he suddenly became enlightened and made consecutive shots. Under his leadership, he revitalized the team and made accurate shots.

Schneider was furious, with serious consequences.

Gordon Hayward, the star of the Jazz, came to defend Richard.

As expected, there was a lot of gap between him and the players who had been famous for a long time. When Richard was defended by a player who was taller and longer than himself, and his movement speed was not weak, he was severely restricted.

Richard, who was entangled and had to change from shooting to breakthrough, fell deeply into the quagmire of defense.

In order to reduce turnovers, in order to reduce the wrong shot, Richard had to move the ball quickly.

The Thunder's offensive strengths were pinched, and the scoring was pulled away again.

Donovan had to replace Richard with 4 minutes left in the second quarter.

At this time, Richard was already out of breath.

Although it was back-to-back, Richard, who didn't exert too much energy yesterday, was still full of energy. In this way, he exhausted his energy in the first half, and the other main players were not in the right state.

The physical fitness on the plateau is weaker than that on the plains, and you can’t notice it at the beginning. The difference can be seen after a longer game. The few players who played more than 30 minutes in the game against the Trail Blazers yesterday are no longer good.

The score was opened again, and at halftime, the Thunder fell behind by 4 points again.

48: 52.

Facing this group of young people who were exhausted and out of breath, Donovan couldn't ask for more from them. He silently let everyone rest, experience the difference brought about by the plateau, feel the adjusted shooting feeling, and hope to recover the score in the second half when the shooting rebounds.

"Great play!" Westbrook limped and stood in the middle of the locker room, encouraging the players.

Whether it works or not, if even Westbrook doesn't stand up, the spirits of the players will be even more depressed.

At the beginning of the second half, Richard played first. Donovan hoped that Richard would lead the team to make a rush to equalize the score or even overtake. Having the initiative behind him can relieve a lot of pressure.

It's a pity that the calculation was wrong, Schneider directly focused on Richard, and continued to arrange Hayward to defend Richard, even if it caused Hayward to fail to score high.

Under Hayward's strict defense, it was difficult for Richard to break through. He managed to take a few shots, but only scored once.

In just 4 minutes, Richard was replaced and scored 4 points on 1 of 2 shots.

Continued to fall behind in the third quarter. Under the double pressure of physical strength and plateau competition, the Thunder finally couldn't bear it and began to collapse.

After the third quarter, the score fell behind again by 10 points.

68: 78.

The fourth quarter is about to start, and although theoretically there is still a chance to overtake, 10 points in a single quarter is more difficult for the Thunder than this.

But that's when you have superstars, not now when you can't get your hands dirty.

Westbrook continues to cheer for his teammates, even if he loses, he can't lose his momentum.

"Coach, let me fight for a while." If Donovan wants to surrender, even Richard will not be able to make it, so he must fight for it.

"Of course, I still have confidence in everyone." Donovan still took out the tactical board and continued to arrange tactics.

The Thunder will not admit defeat easily.

There is no Westbrook just to train and let the players know how to play without a star.

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(End of this chapter)